Will of chaos

Pov Igor:

“Do you really believe Ronan will convince him?” (me)

“No, but you should be able to calm him down so he can think for himself.” (Ayden)

“Zenos isn’t a rational person, he lets himself be carried away by his emotions and also demonstrates impulsive behavior.” (me)

“I know, but above all, he’s still a leader, that entails the responsibility of seeing the big picture whether he wants to or not, he’ll understand.” (Ayden)

“(Even if he understands, he won’t work with us, mainly because of his distrust of me from now on.)” (me)

I knew the risks of this approach, but I couldn’t argue against its effectiveness; having a trump card against them was indispensable to bring them out of the shadows, and now we have a key to that.

Even so, the price was a little high; it led the one who should have been our most outstanding asset to step aside and also broke a business chain that could have been the best in my life.

“(No business is 100% safe; amidst the turmoil of battle, all agreements and trades must be balanced between losses and gains.)” (Merchant)

“(Sir, having him as an enemy will be counterproductive in the long run.)” (Me)

“(He won’t be an enemy, just perhaps he won’t be an ally again.)” (Merchant)

“…” (Me)

“Igor, prepare for compensation.” (Ayden)

Suddenly I see Ayden signaling to his newly arrived student to act, before turning to me with instructions, but his haste worries me.

“We should at least wait a few days for Ronan to try to convince him; he understands our reasons.” (Me)

“We don’t have that luxury; in a war, time is too valuable a commodity to waste.” (Ayden)

“I’ll have everything ready for tomorrow, whether you’re with me or not.” (Ayden)

“That won’t change anything, not with him.” (Me)

“I don’t care, regardless of his decision, I can’t waste any more time here.” (Ayden)

Ayden leaves. He’s always been decisive, and I’m sure Guerra didn’t even need to give the order for him to start acting; maybe he had already foreseen this possibility too.

I was left alone with my thoughts, but I can’t shake this bad feeling. Of all the deals I’ve ever made in my life, I’ve never been the one to break my agreements, even though I always prepared myself in case my business partners betrayed me. I’ve never acted with the intention of doing something like that; it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

“What’s your opinion, Merchant?” (Me)

“Should I at least try talking to him one more time?” (Me)

“(No, he won’t listen to your words. What you did, regardless of the reason, was still something done behind his back. You won’t regain his trust.)” (Merchant)

“(Make your preparations as Ayden said. The enemies are no longer hiding and won’t let what happened go unpunished.)” (Merchant)

“Damn it!” (Me)

————————-

Pov Zenos:

5 hours after my return.

I was arriving in front of the gates where that woman’s coffin was kept, but when I arrived there was someone else waiting in front of the door looking at me.

“Xerxes told me.” (Selene)

“…” (Me)

“You’re not ready.” (Selene)

“I’ll never be…” (me)

“Do you really need all this just for a mortal?” (Selene)

“Even you can’t say that with conviction, it was never about power.” (me)

“Can’t you let it go?” (Selene)

“That happened decades ago and in another life.” (Selene)

“In my past life I thought I had left it behind, but I just avoided thinking about it, I locked it all away so deeply that it didn’t resurface until I realized how much I was deceiving myself.” (me)

“In this life, I made decisions that would have been impossible for my past self, I gained power, the love of wonderful women and a mother who genuinely cares about me… but it was still there deep down… gnawing… growing… burning…” (me)

I didn’t realize how much that woman could affect me until I had those illusions when we faced Hate, it was clear that I hadn’t forgotten about this woman I never knew.

My fury when Callidora dared to bring her soul to me, it shows the same with how I treated her before entering her consciousness, I didn’t dare reveal who I was with excuses when in truth I was afraid.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready, but this is a conversation I need to have with her, something that needs to happen sooner or later…” (me)

“Do you know what you’re going to do?” (Selene)

“No, that’s why I’m going to let everything take its course…” (me)

“Try to stay calm, be honest with yourself and with her, that’s what’s best for you.” (Selene)

“Thank you, mother.” (me)

I hug her, the warmth of her body, the gentleness in her aura, the firmness of her arms around me, this was my mother, the difference between the two was too great.

Saying goodbye to her, I open the door and enter that room, which I realize has far more security than it actually needs; it seems more like a prison than anything else, capable of holding even a God, totally unnecessary for a simple Soul that wasn’t even conscious.

I open the coffin and this time I wake her. I didn’t want to enter her mind again; I simply touched her Soul, and my presence forced her to awaken. The Concept of Chaos enters her consciousness, changing it from a passive to an active state, thus forcing her to wake up.

I see her open her eyes as blood leaks from my body, forming a chair where I sit a few steps away from her. She slowly rises from the coffin where her Soul has remained lying since it came into my hands.

“Hmm~…” (Hana)

“But what…!?” (Hana)

She was speaking one of the languages ​​of my old world, Portuguese.

Since she’s Brazilian, it shouldn’t be surprising that she speaks the language she grew up with upon waking up, even though she’s lived most of her life outside her country of origin; some things never change.

“Where… how…?” (Hana)

Suddenly she started speaking in English. No matter what language you use, a God understands all mortal languages, so I understand everything she says perfectly.

Her aura was confused, her eyes were completely red, and her presence had a tense, persistent murderous intent; the number of people she’s killed must have been great.

“Ah… now I remember, so you were the God who pulled me out of Hell.” (Hana)

“I didn’t pull you out of anywhere; you were given to me as compensation.” (me)

“…” (Hana)

Her expression changes as she looks at me and understands my words, then she sits in the coffin, her transparent body revealing the weak energies flowing within and that horn in her center.

“You woke me up, what do you want?” (Hana)

“You spoke of your son, what would you do if he were in front of you?” (me)

“…” (Hana)

My words left her paralyzed, her soul trembling as if it were almost losing its humanoid form, her red eyes blinking between red and light gray.

I can feel the demonic power and whatever that horn on her chest is, trying to contaminate the rest of her soul, but with the mark I left on her head, those powers are suppressed and inactive.

“You don’t know him, there’s no way…!” (Hana)

“He must have died a long time ago!” (Hana)

“He did die, you’re right about that.” (Me)

“But I really know who your son is, I know everything there is to know about him.” (Me)

“You… you…” (Hana)

She was frozen, her eyes becoming opaque, her aura marked by fear and uncertainty; it was clear she felt threatened or something.

They say we tend to judge others by our own moral compass, by things we would do if the situation were reversed, and for her, threats are the norm.

“I’m not threatening you, it’s not worth the effort.” (Me)

“I’m asking what you would do if your son were placed in front of you, and don’t try to lie to me, I’ll know if it’s true or not.” (Me)

Her face turned in relief at my words, but at the same time the fear in her aura increased with my questioning; it seems she fears facing me, exactly the kind of cowardice I expected.

“I don’t know…” (Hana)

“I might lie to him or try to hide… it’s too late for anything else.” (Hana)

“That’s what you would do, and you’re not lying.” (Selene)

“Now tell me, what would you like to do? If given the opportunity, if he were in front of you right now, what would be your first thought? What would you really want to do?” (Selene)

“…” (Hana)

“…” (me)

Suddenly my mother’s voice emerges behind me, she walks while speaking, stopping beside me, leaning on the chair where I was sitting.

Hana, who looked at her, was in an unstable state with her questioning, as if the mere thought of it was difficult for her to bear, even so my mother used her Aura to almost force her to speak.

Tears

“I…I wanted…to hug…just hug my little boy one more time…” (Hana)

Tears

“In my whole life I’ve held everything from bombs to weapons and drugs, more money than small countries would see in a year, yet nothing came close to the value of him in my arms that day…” (Hana)

Tears

“He was everything to me…everything…even so I…I…” (Hana)

Black tears streamed from her eyes, a colossal amount of suffering, a deep pain etched in her helplessness.

“So the time has come for his destiny to be decided, hasn’t it…?” (Selene)

“…” (me)